In the forest
by Anrheithwyr
Summary: John and Meaghan go wandering into the Forbidden Forest early one morning and find an unusual stone.


_**We're supposed to write fluff?**_

…

John had never been to the Forbidden Forest for a reason; it was _forbidden, _after all, and if Professor McGonagall didn't want them wandering around at night, it was probably for a very practical, very reasonable reason.

But Meaghan wanted to go hunting, and where Meaghan went, John followed, walking the same path as the twelve year old, silently cursing the fact that they were related and therefore obligated to look after each other during times when sanity had left one crazy enough to want to go wandering around the Forbidden Forest at night.

"What do you think is out here? I mean it's _so _big, I bet there's _tons _of cool things all around the place, right?" Meaghan asked as John walked after her, but as he pondered her question, the sixteen year old suddenly found his whole world upheaved as he tripped over a root, going flying and nearly hitting a tree branch with his face.

"Whoa!" Meaghan cried and then began laughing at the sight of her brother sprawled over the ground, face and palms dirtied. "You're an _idiot_, John. Didn't you see that tree root? Gosh, how do you even function?"

"Pretty poorly, apparently," John grumbled, pushing himself back up, but before he could fully get back on his feet, the boy saw something glinting on the ground, barely covered by a few old leaves and some moss.

Whatever the object was, it was dark, black and oddly shaped, letting off an almost ethereal glow when John bent down for further inspection. The object, it turned out, was a small rock, maybe about the appropriate size for John to hold comfortably in the palm of his hand.

"What are you looking at, John? What's _that_?" Meaghan asked, coming closer to look down at the oddly shaped rock in her brother's hands, inspecting it with curiosity. "Did you _seriously _find _such_ a pretty stonein the _forest_? And it's so cool looking, too! Wow, it's almost mesmerizing! Who would lose such a pretty thing out here? Hey…" Meaghan paused, looking at the rock in a thoughtful manner, "could I have it? I mean, you don't even _like _stuff like this, but I _love _collecting rocks, don't I, John? I'd love to have such a pretty thing in my collection, and as my big brother, you love giving me presents like this, right, John? So…can _I _have it?"

"Uh, sure Meaghan," John said quietly, handing the rock over, causing the young girl to squeal and shove the weird rock in front of her face, looking down at it with admiration.

"Wow! Look how _pretty _this thing is! Gosh, isn't it pretty, John?" She couldn't help but stare at the rock, pulled to stare at it by some other force seemingly beyond her control. "Hey…do you think that Eddie will think the rock is cool? Because he told me that he used to collect rocks when he was younger. I mean, I _think _that's what he said during Charms class, but I was kind of distracted when Melanie fell out of her chair, and-"

"Meaghan, I don't know if _Eddie Rivers_ cares about some rock you found in the Forbidden Forest, but I do know that the professors will care if they find us hanging out in the woods early in the morning without permission," John grumbled, setting off for the castle.

Meaghan rolled her eyes at her brother, but followed after him anyway, wondering to herself if this particular stone would be enough to finally catch the attention of her classmate, Edmund Rivers, who was _very _cute and _very _popular.

"We're not going to get _caught_, John. We hardly ever get caught, right? And besides, even if we do, I can just tell them all about this cool rock I found, and then they'll leave us alone because professors are really super reasonable. I should know, since they _all _love me," the twelve year old said, and her brother turned to give Meaghan a bemused look.

"Oblivious first years are the weirdest things ever," he mumbled to himself, and suddenly went flying again, dirt spinning past his view until all he could see was the mildly packed trees above him, a canopy of leafy branches making up his world.

"You tripped because you're dumb," Meaghan commented cheerfully, leaning over her brother's still body with a laugh. "That's the second time, too, so you must be _really _dumb, unlike me, because I haven't tripped over _anything _at all."

"Whatever," the older boy grumbled, getting to his feet again. "Eddie Rivers doesn't like girls who laugh too much, anyway," he said with a smirk, and Meaghan immediately fell silent, wondering if that was true, and if so, had she turned Eddie off by laughing too much around him?

"You're just jealous of me because of this cool stone I have, is all," Meaghan said after a few second's consideration, naturally bouncing back to her obnoxiously happy attitude. "I'm going to become the most popular first year at Hogwarts and all the other students are going to talk about how _awesome _I am and how lame _you _are."

"Ok," John said and they continued walking on, making their way back to the castle in silence for several minutes. Not talking to Meaghan was a much easier way of dealing with her than anything else, and so he let her wander after him, admiring the stone in her hands with a look of pure joy.

"Oh, man, I _really _hope he likes this rock. I mean, I know _everyone _will, because…because just look at it! It kind of reminds me of those….what are they called, obelisks? But I still can't figure out why anyone would come all the way out here just to lose something so _amazing_! I'm so glad I found it, aren't you, John? I'm _so _glad I found it," Meaghan chattered as John circled the school, leading his sister to the dungeon entrance that John had found with some friends several years before.

"You know what it kind of reminds me of, actually?" John said thoughtfully as Meaghan slinked up the dungeon paths back towards the Gryffindor dormitories. "That Resurrection Stone thingy that Professor Binns was talking about. The one that brings back dead people. Wasn't it supposed to be somewhere in the Forbidden Forest anyway?"

The two siblings looked down at the stone in Meaghan's hand, wondering if it was possible that they really _had _found the Resurrection Stone, of all things, before Meaghan let out another laugh.

"Yeah, _right_, John! It's just a really cool rock we found, it's not the _Resurrection Stone_! I bet you're just trying to mess with me, right? Well, I'm not falling for your tricks, you can't fool me! I'm gonna show it to Eddie tomorrow, anyway, so you can't have it. _Resurrection Stone_," the girl laughed, and John turned red at his temporary excitement, "how childish can you be? It's a children's story, John, a myth they tell to gullible idiots. The Resurrection Stone doesn't exist."

"You're right," John said, blushing, "it's just a cool looking rock. I'm sure Eddie will think it's _awesome _when you show it to him tomorrow…I can't believe I thought it was the Resurrection Stone."

The two siblings continued through the school and up the stairs to their dorms, Meaghan still admiring the stone in her hands and John laughing quietly at his own foolishness. The Resurrection Stone wasn't a real thing, and they certainly hadn't found it in the forest.

Right?


End file.
